Sudbury Savoyards Sandwich Board
Winter 2010 - Vol 15, Number 2
Change is in the air again for the Savoyards. Note that we will be starting our twoweekend run of our big Gilbert and Sullivan show on Saturday this year, not Friday
as has been our schedule in the past. We will be performing six times over our two
weekends, so there will still be plenty of times you can catch us on stage. And, as
usual, there is other news to impart, because while Winter is here, can Summer be
far behind? The Summer Show is in the planning stages, and we’re already thinking
about 2011, which will mark the Fiftieth Anniversary of our noble Company. We are
anxious to keep you involved and enthralled in Savoyards activity, and we’re grateful
for your support through the years. We hope to see you in 2010 and beyond.
Princess Ida, or Castle Adamant, is the seventh of
the thirteen surviving Gilbert and Sullivan
operettas, smack in the middle of the canon,
following Iolanthe and preceding The Mikado, and
first produced in 1884. The team was widely
viewed as being at the peak of their artistic
accomplishments during this period. Gilbert often
worked fragments of his earlier works into later
ones, often between his stage plays and his poems and stories. For Princess Ida,
his libretto is adapted from his 1870 play, The Princess, which was in turn drawn
from a poem of the same name by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Princess Ida is the only
G&S operetta with three acts, though our production will merge these into two
acts to smooth the dramatic presentation. As Stage Director Kathy Lague
outlines in her notes, below, the satire of the play revolves around the title
character’s founding of a school for women. This isn’t as barbed a satire as those
found in many of Gilbert’s other plots, where the admiralty, the peerage, or the
courts were jibed in ways that could truly raise eyebrows among strait-laced Victorians. In fact, while the topic
might have been eye-opening at the time of Gilbert’s play, or more certainly Tennyson’s poem, by the time
Princess Ida was produced, such schooling would have been considered quite ordinary, if not entirely accepted.
Which bring us to the real crux of the plot, the undercurrent of all G&S’s stories: who should marry whom, and
under what conditions. For that, we turn to Kathy, who outlines where the real drama of the piece lies:
Princess Ida is one of Gilbert and Sullivan’s lesser-known operas, and most who do know it know it as the one
that “makes fun of women’s education.” Yes, it does, but in looking at the material more closely, there are other
lessons that can be learned. I approached this piece as a more of a story about false impressions, assumptions,
and how they can be overcome through learning and respect.
Ida and Hilarion are products of their childhood environments. Hildebrand’s court is a very traditional,
patriarchal place. Hilarion has been born to privilege and has been exposed to the standard courtly, chivalric
model, where women are to be cherished and idolized, but can’t or shouldn’t do anything. While knowing that he
has been married all these years, he’s certainly participated in innocent, ritualized flirting over the years, and the
dainty triolet strategy has worked in the past.
Ida has not had the best male role models to deal with in her life (just wait until you see her father and her
brothers!), so it’s not much of a surprise that she’s established a retreat for women. Education is important to her
and clearly she was well educated before she founded the school.
So these two meet each other under bad assumptions and bad circumstances. Hilarion assumes she is like every
other woman he’s met, and she assumes he’s like every other man she’s ever known. It doesn’t help matters that
he comes to her in disguise. To his credit, he realizes very quickly that she is different from all the other women,
and he likes that. His Act II plea is not a ploy, as he does love her. She actually does start to soften. He’s speaking
to her as no man ever has – she might even let him go in a day or two and it would all work out, but then
Hildebrand comes in and ruins everything – resetting her general impression of men, and setting up a final
conflict.
To see how (if!) it all works out, you’ll need to come and see the show. Aside from Ida (Grace Field) and Hilarion
and his father (Tom Frates, Tom Weber), you’ll meet: Ida’s brothers (Mike Lague, Randy Divinski, David
Fleischmann-Rose) – good strong men with NO imagination whatsoever, but they can fight very well; Ida’s
father (Dennis O’Brien) – a man with an interesting viewpoint on philanthropy; Cyril and Florian (Brad
Amidon, Peter Boettcher) – Hilarion’s friends - Cyril gets himself (and others) into trouble, Florian is there to
bail them out (everyone needs friends like these); Lady Psyche and Lady Blanche (Wendy Parker, Katherine
Meifert) – professors at the school with differing viewpoints on the situation; and ladies of the school (Danielle
Melillo, Debbie Crane, Graham Daley, Laurel Martin).
Throw in a strong chorus (David Baldwin, Alyssa Berkson, Zoe Castro, Jamie
Cobleigh, Janice Dallas, Jennifer Dohm, Meryl Eisenstein, Ed Fell, Ann Ferentz,
Janine Gauntt, Lissa Gilbert, Marcia Goldensher, Beth Goldstein, John Gorgone,
Ruth Griesel, Fred Hughes, Bill Johnson, Dave Kay, Neil McCormick, Jim Miller,
Larry Millner, Rich Olsen, Tony Parkes, Mei-Lin Po, Tom Porcher, Karen Powers,
Nancy Powers, Sarah Roth, Jon Saul, Ellen Simmons, Erin Van Speybroeck,
Michael Zimmer, and Marla Zucker) and you’ve got everything for a great evening of
music and drama. We hope to see you at the show!
Complementing our cast and chorus are the 28 members of our orchestra, and the fantastic
sets, lights, and costumes that continue to validate the Savoyards’ motto of “Gilbert and Sullivan on a Grand
Scale.”
Open Ticketing Continues, by friend, phone, mail, email, or on the Web
Our six-performance schedule allows us to continue an important element of our ticketing policy. Again, any
ticket will be good for any one of our six performances, with the exception of our discount Thursday night tickets,
which will be honored only for that performance. All tickets are for general admission seating.
Princess Ida – February 20-27, 2010
details and info: 978-443-8811 & www.sudburysavoyards.org
Sudbury Savoyards Sandwich Board - Winter 2010 - 2
The Sudbury Savoyards are pleased to present Gilbert and Sullivan’s Princess Ida at 8:00PM Saturday,
February 20; Thursday, February 25; Friday, February 26; and Saturday, February 27 with matinee
performances at 2:00PM on Sunday, February 21 and Saturday, February 27. All performances will be
presented in the Rogers-Kirschner Auditorium at the Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, 390 Lincoln Road,
Sudbury, Massachusetts. Please note that we will not have a Friday night performance on opening weekend. We
have moved opening night to Saturday.
Tickets good for any performance are $20 for adult general admission, $16 for seniors and students, and $12 for
children under 12; Thursday night discount tickets are $15 for all age groups (except children, where the $12 rate
remains applicable).
Order your tickets by phone at 978-443-8811, by email to [email protected], or postal mail
(make checks payable to the Sudbury Savoyards) to Princess Ida Tickets, 279 Captain Eames Circle,
Ashland, Mass. 01721-3916. With all orders, include your name and address, a phone number for callback, the
number of tickets for each category (adult, senior/student, child), and whether you are ordering specifically for
the Thursday discount night performance. The Savoyards again offer web-based ticket purchasing. Go to
www.sudburysavoyards.org and click on the “Tickets” link. You will be offered menus to order tickets by category
and number. Payment for tickets is through the PayPal web purchasing system, as used for eBay and other web
commerce. Tickets are priced as above, but a $3 per order (regardless of number of tickets purchased) surcharge
will be added to cover web processing costs. Prepaid orders (web orders and postal mail orders with checks)
received before February 12th will be mailed back to you; later orders, orders without payment, or orders you
request not be sent will be held at the door. You can also purchase tickets from any participating Savoyard.
Annual Meeting
The Annual Membership Meeting of the Sudbury Savoyards will be held at the Sudbury United Methodist Church on
February 27th, between the matinee and evening performances of Princess Ida.
The principal activities of the Annual Meeting are recognition of the participants of the current production and election of
Trustees for the coming year. While the Annual Membership Meeting is the once-a-year convening of all available Savoyards,
the Board of Trustees operates year-round, coordinating the various activities and maintaining governance of the Company.
The Board meets monthly, and meetings are generally open to any Savoyard. Minutes of Board meetings are available by
subscription, and are archived on the Savoyard web site. If you would like to follow the Board’s activities, go to
www.sudburysavoyards.org and click on “Board Meeting Minutes” on the home page and indicate your interest in receiving
the minutes.
2010 Sudbury Savoyards Summer Show: “On Golden Pond”
The Sudbury Savoyards’ summer productions have run the gamut from Gilbert’s stage plays to modern American comedy and
musicals to English drawing room pieces. The Board of Trustees has selected Ernest Thompson’s “On Golden Pond” as our
Summer 2010 offering, to be directed by Mary Spinosa-Wilson. Plans are only just afoot, and, as always, there is need for
participants in every aspect of the production effort. If you would like to produce, paint sets, collect props, manage a box office,
or help in any way imaginable, contact the Board by telephone at 978-443-8811, or through our general email address,
[email protected]. People who can commit early to the production serve an invaluable role in streamlining the
summer effort! We anticipate audition dates will be sometime in April or May and the production will run for two weekends in
July/August. For details as they arise, keep an eye on our web site for the latest information.
2011: Fiftieth anniversary extravaganza
The Board of Trustees of the Sudbury Savoyards has selected a double bill of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Trial by Jury and HMS
Pinafore as the company’s 50th main stage production, to be presented in winter/spring of 2011. While the “extravaganza” part
of the program remains to be finalized, we can be sure to celebrate such a noble anniversary in fine Savoyard style! Stay
tuned to future newsletter and web announcements for details as they arise.
a loss - Larry Littlefield
We recently learned of the death of Larry Littlefield in October of last year, at age 77, in Tucson, Arizona. Larry was a
mainstay of the Sudbury Savoyards and other musical theater groups in our area from the mid-1970s to the early 1990s. He
was a founding member of the New England Gilbert and Sullivan Society (NEGASS). Nominally a baritone, he sang lead roles
from tenor to bass and whatever was required in innumerable choruses. He is remembered by other Savoyard old-timers as
patient and encouraging to the less experienced, and he helped by example to establish the Sudbury Savoyards' culture of
inclusion and high performance standards. Larry is survived by his wife, Donna, and daughters in Arizona and Rhode Island
and a son in New Hampshire.
Sudbury Savoyards
Sudbury United Methodist Church
251 Old Sudbury Road
Sudbury, Massachusetts 01776
Return Service Requested
NON-PROFIT ORG
US POSTAGE PAID
SUDBURY, MA
PERMIT NO. 11
Princess Ida – February 20-27, 2010
details and info: 978-443-8811 & www.sudburysavoyards.org